In this Nov. 27th Practitioner Support Network session, Groundswell: Oral History for Social Change hosts Jon Earle and Janice Amaya of the New Sanctuary Coalition in a discussion with participants about oral history with immigrant communities facing deportation proceedings. The PSN also focuses on how use oral histories to create collaborative public facing projects that use theater, public policy research and more.

On October 23, 2018, Abbie Arevalo-Herrera joined Groundswell: Oral History for Social Change for a Practitioner Support Network session on the sanctuary movement and how she took sanctuary in a church in Richmond, Virginia.

Groundswell: Oral History for Social Change has launched a blog series called “Groundswell Network Boost” to promote the work of projects throughout the country using oral history for social change. This interview with the Testimony Project in collaboration with the New Sanctuary Coalition in New York City discusses the project and its successes as well as the challenges that arise when documenting the voices of immigrants in the United States threatened with deportation.

Groundswell contributor and Labor Equity Member Elizabeth Gelvin penned this piece about the Louisiana Abortion Stories Project, an archive of the New Orleans Abortion Fund which collects and holds the stories of folks in New Orleans who have accessed abortion care in Louisiana.

On June 14th, 2018 Groundswell: Oral History for Social Change hosted a Practitioner Support Network session with oral historian Alisa del Tufo and theater professor at Concordia University, Luis C. Sotelo Castro on how oral history supports restorative justice work.

In this Practitioner Support Network, oral historians Allison Corbett and Fanny Garcia explore language justice and and why it matters in doing oral history work with communities that use various languages.

Join oral historian Alisa del Tufo and professor Luis C. Sotelo Castro in this practitioner support network discussion about the many ways in which oral history can provide support and contribute to healing in restorative justice work.

In this reportback from Groundswell Core Working Group member Amy Starecheski, we learn about her experiences at the 2017 Oral History Association Meeting, and the impact that meeting Staughton and Alice Lynd has made on her oral history practice.

Last month, Groundswell's Practitioner Support Network Working Group teamed up with colleagues Patrick O'Shea and Shiu-Ming Cheerfrom the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) to offer a special PSN chat: Immigration Law for Oral Historians. Check out some key takeaways and listen to the full audio!

On Saturday, August 12th 2017, the Freedom Archives hosted the Bay Area premiere of their new documentary “Symbols of Resistance” at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. Speaking to a capacity audience of 250 people, the film crew opened the event by discussing the Symbols of Resistance event, held in Colorado in 2014, which originally sparked the filmmaking process.

The PSN centered around reflecting on lessons learned during the project “Summer for Respect: Organizing and Oral History” which was inspired by the anniversary of the Freedom Summer of 1964. Terrell was working with Columbia sociologist Adam Reich when Reich was approached by the UFCWabout working together on a project with student organizers and Walmart workers. Students were to conduct oral histories as part of their work as organizers in the field. Terrell led the oral history component and the union did the fieldwork training and organizing. Terrell started the PSN with a description of the project.

As the Core Working Group for Groundswell: Oral History for Social Change, the recent events in Charlottesville are at the forefront of our minds and hearts. We mourn the deaths in Charlottesville as well as the structural and state violence that perpetuate racism and white supremacy. Though we know that racism, white supremacy, and hate groups have always existed in the United States, we recognize that this is a particular moment in which white supremacists feel emboldened to act...

This PSN chat is designed to give oral historians an opportunity to address some of the concerns and challenges they face when working with vulnerable immigrant populations whose stories could reveal legally compromising information.